The storage, protection and loading of ammunition are concerns with the operation of firearms. One device that is used in response to these concerns is a belt bag. A known belt bag for use with a machine gun is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,500.
Machine guns that have long belts fed into them have the disadvantage that the cartridge belt hangs down unprotected on the outside of the machine gun. Thus, the belt can become dirty and can get caught on various objects or otherwise be damaged. For example with a machine gun for an armored vehicle, if the machine gun is attached relatively high above the bottom of the vehicle, if there is no ammunition loader who holds and guides the belt in his hands, if the belt is too long or if generally a poor quality ammunition is used, then the reloading mechanism of the machine gun may not be able to feed the heavy, low-hanging belt reliably into the machine gun. In this case, the belt may be shortened, additional mechanical feed devices may be attached or a “belt depot” may be created, which is located close to the gun and in which the belt is stored such that the belt may be fed easily.
Such “belt depots” are generally formed from an ammunition crate, and the belt depots form the smallest replenishment unit for belted ammunition. The advantage of such belt depots is that properly packaged ammunition does not need to be unpackaged before the insertion of the belt into the machine gun. Ammunition that is first unpackaged may become contaminated with dirt. However, a disadvantage is that above all else, the construction of the ammunition crate takes into consideration the needs of the replenishment of the ammunition and not those of the machine gun. The belts are inserted for optimal packing density and so the ammunition may be fed into the machine gun from either end. Examples of such ammunition crates, which are used as storage containers for machine gun belts on machine guns or the like, can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,393,960; 4,096,783; and 2,705,575. Thus, the use of the use of ammunition crates as a means for ammunition stockpiling has prevailed over the alternative design (i.e., extremely large magazines) in the fifty years since the Second World War.
But such ammunition depots, which are formed from the ammunition crates, have other disadvantages as well. For example, rain water, which may flow into the top of an open ammunition crate, may not be drained from the bottom of the crate because there is no hole in the bottom of the crate because such a hole also would let humidity into the crate during transport.
Moreover, such crates also are very heavy and, when the crates are attached to the lateral side of a gun, the additional weight from the crate moves the center of gravity of the gun and the ammunition. Shifting the center of gravity of the gun considerably burdens operation of the gun operation by enabling increased lateral movement of the gun during shooting. This malfunction cannot be corrected by a mount if one wants to enable effortless lateral aiming during shooting.
Thus, a foldable bag has been recently suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,693 for use with a machine gun. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,693 the “belt depot” is formed by a relatively small cloth bag made of nylon fabric, which is attached to the machine gun laterally below the cartridge entrance and provides free access to the reloading device of the machine gun when open. After being inserted into the machine gun, the belt is folded up, placed in the bag and the bag is closed. In this construction, the belt is located close to the machine gun and is no deeper than the bottom plate of the machine gun when shooting from a bipod. The nylon bag and all of its fittings are much lighter than an ammunition crate, and the center of gravity lies at most six inches to the side of the machine gun, which is comparable with the lateral position of the center of gravity when a cartridge belt alone is hanging down from the side of the weapon. This bag also may be used in a universal machine gun when an ammunition loader is not always available, as described above, and the cartridge belt is, thus, hanging down and can get caught in the terrain and the like.
However, this belt bag also has disadvantages. When the belt bag is completely full, the belt bag at most can rest only slightly against the machine gun, if at all, because the belt could otherwise be clamped or caught through the bag. Thus, a special, almost vertical, transition between the cartridge entrance of the machine gun and the bag is required so that the belt bulging towards the two sides does not rest against the machine gun. In addition, this transition must be longer depending on the size of the belt. Because the belt in the transition mainly moves vertically upwards, lateral space is also needed for the diversion of the belt. Thus, center of gravity of a filled belt bag is moved away from the gun to the side, which, as stated above, is undesirable.
Another important disadvantage of prior belt bags is the fact that the opening where the belt leaves the bag faces upwards and is unprotected. Thus, dirt can get into the bag and soil the belt. The bag has a small opening on the bottom for drainage, but this opening usually gets plugged with dirt rather than contributing to its removal. Thus, the risk of contamination from dirt, which is already rather high when using machine gun belts, is increased drastically.